Juneteenth Day Festival honors history while celebrating the present

Each year to celebrate Juneteenth, Peggy Roberts wears a festive t-shirt that she made nearly 15 years ago that reads "promoting peace, love, harmony and family values in the community." (All photos by Allison Dikanovic)

Angel and Amari Williams, 8 and 9, walk down Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive with their mom, who lets them have their faces painted with glitter.

James Harris spends some quality time with his daughters Semaj, 9, and Aira, 5, for Father's Day at the Juneteenth Day Festival.

Ricky Slade, who works at Running Rebels Community Organization monitoring youth who are on probation, holds up a shirt promoting Juneteenth Day.

Different groups drawing from various African cultural influences including drum circles and dance troupes livened up the atmosphere along MLK Drive.

Hungry festival-goers brave the beating sun to stand in line for their favorite treat from the line of food trucks in the middle of the street.

The dense crowds love the performances put on by several local dance groups. Cheers grew louder as the girls begin their routine to Formation by Beyonce.

Billy Trammel is a part of the Phenomenal Men Support Group, an organization of formerly incarcerated men who work with men recovering from drug or alcohol abuse and also with young men in a mentorship program.

The streets are full of bright colored booths and people in summer clothes from the south-facing view down MLK Drive. Thousands of people attended the festival.

Sunday was one-year-old Geonni's first Juneteenth Day and Father's Day, and he celebrates in style with his dad Brandon Reed, who said his favorite part of the festival is running into all his friends, old and new.

Last year at the Juneteenth Day Festival, Lay Lay Kazee, 10, had such a successful lemonade stand that she decided to step it up a notch this year, serving both black cherry and traditional lemonade and adding more decorations.

A young basketball fan strolls the Juneteenth Day Festival before the big game.

With all the food vendors to choose from, it was pretty easy to find a snack that hit the spot. This young festival-goer definitely did.

Justin Blue works at the Growing Power café, 2719 N. King Drive. He makes people smile as he hands out mouth-watering corn on the cob.

Life Enhancement Supportive Services, 6001 W. Center St., is one of many organizations with booths along MLK Drive offering information about community resources.

Volunteers at the MICAH and Project Return booth such as Antoinette Wade and Dave McGinnis speak with community members about events and campaigns happening in the state about prison reform.

Milwaukeeans of all ages gather with friends to check out all that Juneteenth Day Festival has to offer. (Photo by Allison Dikanovic)

Funky Fresh Spring Rolls was one of the many local businesses offering a variety of food options. The rolls were so popular that they ran out by early afternoon!

The sun was shining, the music was loud and the streets were full at the 45th annual Juneteenth Day Festival. This year the rich Milwaukee tradition also coincided with Father’s Day, bringing families out to attend the festival together.

Juneteenth Day is the country’s oldest observed holiday and commemorates the day the last slaves were freed in 1865 following the Civil War.

“We all know when the Fourth of July is and celebrate the independence of America, but not everyone knows when to celebrate the independence of the slaves,” said Ricky Slade, a program coordinator at Running Rebels Community Organization, who monitors youth who are on probation. Slade said he wanted to encourage young people to get a holistic understanding of the past. “The slaves were a big part of the founding of America, and it’s important for young people to have a balanced history.”

In addition to honoring the significance of the past and how slavery continues to affect today’s society, the festival also served as an opportunity for friends and families to gather and enjoy what their community has to offer.

“Juneteenth is so community-oriented. I grew up in Milwaukee, and I get to see so many people and a lot of friends who I don’t see throughout the year,” said Peggy Roberts, who works at Northcott Neighborhood House, the nonprofit that organizes Juneteenth Day Festival.

The day of celebration kicked off at 9 a.m. with a parade including waving Miss Juneteenth contestants, performing dance groups, smiling politicians and enthusiastic community organizations, and continued with a festival until 5 p.m.

Energy remained high as vendors selling everything from corn on the cob, to spring rolls, to homemade natural shea butter lotion lined the sidewalks of N. King Drive running from W. Center Street to W. Burleigh Street. The streets were packed with everyone from young, bubble-blowing children, to elderly couples in wheelchairs.

Different community resources and advocacy groups also had booths dispersed among the food, music and shopping options, offering festival-goers information related to service providers, churches, schools, social issues and upcoming elections.

Billy Trammel brought a life-size jail cell to the event. Trammel is part of the Phenomenal Men Support Group, an organization of formerly incarcerated men. “We tell the young people we work with, ‘If you hang around negativity, you’re going to be negative. Always be positive, and always be a leader.’ …We’re putting back in the community what we took out,” Trammel said.

When 10-year-old Lay Lay Kazee was asked how her Juneteenth Day was going at her bright pink and yellow lemonade stand, all she could say was, “Really good!”

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